Venetian culture survives on the crumbs of its grandiose past. It rests firmly on its laurels as the home of Vivaldi and the center of the world for music in the 16th century. Musicians dressed in foppish costumes entertain visitors with one-off renditions of baroque music in local churches, while string quartets vie for space in St Mark’s Square.
La Fenice, the home of Venetian opera and theater, was devastated by a fire in 1996 and its rebirth proved a delicate and time-consuming process.
Gone are the days when Carlo Goldoni, the prolific Venetian dramatist, produced 16 works
in one year and had the critics rolling in the aisles. The theater scene these days is a middle-class affair, with its cap firmly set at the euro-laden tourists. With the declining population and young people choosing to leave, Venice’s home-grown performance groups are virtually non-existent. The city has to rely on outside artists to spice up the cultural scene. Only the cinema keeps abreast of contemporary traditions when, every September, Venice welcomes the moneyed to the
International Film Festival.
For information and listings,
A Guest in Venice (website:
www.aguestinvenice.com) is published fortnightly in summer and monthly during the winter season and is available from good hotels. Information is also available online (website:
www.doge.it). Tickets for major cultural events are available for purchase from
Bestticket (tel: (051) 649 3265; website:
www.ciaoticket.it).
Music: Epic performances once again grace the stage of
Teatro La Fenice,
Campo San Fantin (tel: (041) 241 8033; website:
www.teatrolafenice.it). The city’s opera house has recently returned home after a lengthy sojourn to Tronchetto island during reconstruction work after a devastating fire in 1996. The opera season is somewhat overshadowed by neighboring Verona but the standard of the music is high. Tickets are available at the theater Monday to Saturday 0830-1830 and on the website.
Other music venues in the city include the
Frari Church, San Polo 3003 (tel: (041) 272 8611; website:
www.basilicadeifrari.it), which offers recitals from May to October (excluding August) every Friday at 2100, and
La Pieta, Riva degli Schiavoni, Castello (website:
www.vivaldi.it), known as the Vivaldi church, because it stands alongside the
Ospedale where the composer taught. Not surprisingly, this is a popular and atmospheric spot for renditions of Vivaldi. Tickets are usually available on the door or at hotel receptions.
For a serious art and music splurge, visitors should reserve seats in the
Scuola di San Rocco, Campo San Rocco, San Polo 3052, where the
Accademia of San Rocco gives regular performances of baroque music on period instruments. Tickets can be booked in person or by telephone (tel: (041) 523 4864).
Theater: For any aficionado of Venetian
Commedia dell’Arte, a visit to the
Teatro Goldoni, Calle Goldoni, San Marco (tel: (041) 240 2011; website:
www.teatrogoldonive.it), is not to be missed. Renamed to mark the playwright’s death in 1867, this beautiful theater offers a comprehensive repertoire of Venetian classics, including works from the rib-tickling Goldoni. Opening nights are often booked well in advance and seats must be reserved at the box office. It is advised that tickets be picked up at least an hour before the performance to avoid disappointment.
Visitors in search of more alternative theater should look to
Teatro a l’Avogaria, Corte Zappa, Dorsoduro (tel: (041) 520 6130; website:
www.teatroavogaria.it), the home of experimental theater since 1969. Venetian professor Giovanni Poli, who died in 1979, was the guiding light behind contemporary theater in Venice and has a strong following in the city. In keeping with his groundbreaking ideas, the theater has no ticketing system but merely asks spectators to make a donation.
Dance: Classical ballet forms part of the season at
Teatro La Fenice (see
Music above) but otherwise dance performances in Venice are thin on the ground.
Film: The city has been the setting for many famous films, including Luciano Visconti’s
Death in Venice (1971), Nicholas Roeg’s
Don’t Look Now (1973), the adaptation of Henry James’
Wings of the Dove (1997) and Michael Radford’s adaptation of the Shakespeare play
The Merchant of Venice (2004) with Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. The final scenes of
The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) were filmed aboard the Croatian cruise liner, the
MV Dalmacija, in the Venetian lagoon.
The
Giorgione Movie D’Essai, Cannaregio 4612, Rio Tera de Franceschi (tel: (041) 522 6298; website:
www.comune.venezia.it/cinema), a two-screen miniplex with over 300 seats, shows a range of films with many played in their original language.
Literary Notes: Venetian-born novelists are an obscure bunch, although many other writers, such as Henry James, have used the city as a backdrop for their novels. William Shakespeare set
Othello and
The Merchant of Venice here, while Thomas Mann’s masterpiece,
Death in Venice (1912), is one of the most resonant portrayals of 19th-century Venice, set in a particularly insalubrious Lido. Jan Morris brings her richly woven prose and evocative descriptions of the Divine Republic in her
Venice (1974).
Other books worth seeking out for their atmospheric descriptions of the city are Ian McEwan’s
The Comfort of Strangers (1981), Frederick Rolfe’s
The Desire and Pursuit of the Whole (1986) and James Cowan’s
A Mapmaker’s Dream (1996), which centers on the famous map in the Libreria Sansovino.
More recent works include Margaret F Macdonald’s
Palaces in the Night (2001), a look at the artist Whistler’s time in Venice, and David Rosand’s
Myths of Venice -
The Figuration of a State (2001). Mary Laven’s
Virgins of Venice (2002) is a fascinating insight into life in a Venetian convent in the Renaissance era. Francesco da Mosto’s
Francesco’s Venice (2007) is now available in paperback, offering a history of the city, which is full of color, life and first-rate photography.
Sport:As in all Italian cities, football (
calcio) remains the predominant passion among sports fans. The city team,
AC Venezia (e-mail:
info@veneziacalcio.it; website:
www.veneziacalcio.it), was founded back in 1907, but these days its glory days seem behind it as it is languishing in the doldrums of the lower leagues after enjoying a brief flirtation with the top league, Serie A, a few years ago. During the season, the team plays alternate Sunday afternoons at the embarrassingly shabby
Pierluigi Penzo stadium, L’Isola Sant’Elena (tel: (041) 238 0711), in the easternmost corner of the city. Tickets cost from €16 and are available at two branches of the
Banca Antoniana Popolare Veneta – Campo San Bartolomeo, San Marco, and
Strada Nova, Cannaregio.
It is the Lido that attracts the golfers, riders and tennis players, although only the most dedicated of fitness devotees brave the waters of the Adriatic or indeed, like Lord Byron, the even dirtier waters of the Grand Canal.
Fitness Centers: Those concerned with health and wellbeing should head off for a session at
Palestra Club Delfino, Zattere (tel: (041) 523 2763; website:
www.palestraclubdelfino.com).
Golf: The
Golf Club Lido, Via del Forte, Alberoni-Lido (tel: (041) 731 333; website:
www.circologolfvenezia.it), is considered one of Italy’s top 10 golf courses. Located just 10 kilometers (six miles) from the center of Venice, it can be reached by vaporetto to the Lido, then bus B to Alberoni. Facilities include three practice greens and an 18-hole course. The club opens daily 0830-1800 (until 2000 in summer) and is accessible to non-members for approximately €55 on weekdays and €70 on weekends.
Tennis: Ten tennis courts are available to non-members at the
Tennis Club Cai del Moro, Via Ferruccio Parri 6, on the Lido (tel: (041) 770 801). Players can reach the club by taking the Lido vaporetto and then bus B. Courts are floodlit and open until 2300. Guests pay around €9 per hour and reservations are recommended. A swimming pool and gym are also available at the club.
The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
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The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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